Friday, October 31, 2014

1. FINALLY finished with parent-teacher conferences. Usually I am done by mid-afternoon on the half-day of parent-teacher conferences, but not this year. I had a 5:45 appointment. Ugh. And two hours to wait in between. The administrator said I could leave and come back, but it wasn't worth it. I got a lot of work done and also just dinked around some too.

2. We had fun watching the World Series this week. We went to my folks' house for two nights of it - didn't stay for the entire game, just too late, but did watch the first third to first half of it with them. Dad is a baseball connoisseur and it's always a pleasure to watch ball with him. We were rooting for the Royals, just because it's always nice to see a small-market, low-budget team do well--but it wasn't to be. Regardless of the winner, it was a fantastic series - the kind with all the excitement that October ball ought to have.

3. Mike went deer hunting last weekend and came back with these. He was at his sister's place, and they have a lot of deer there. He has been a happy man after getting those two nice bucks.

4. Now that eBay allows sellers to have fifty free listings a month without a listing charge (there is still a final value charge), I have just rolled several sets of books over a number of times. They haven't sold, though I haven't lost any money either--but it was getting to the point where, maybe they just weren't going to sell. Well, this week, two sets of them sold. The second set goes out in the morning. It's a great feeling to get the paypal built up a little more for those fun purchases I always like to make. Plus, some of these are things I am selling for school, to also be able to purchase books for school that are more currently needed. So it works out well.

5. Last week we went to a program at our daughter's school. It was nice, and even nicer was to see her in her school setting, as a professional. It's apparent that she is doing well.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

I went through some old photo albums and scanned a number of pictures, because The Wilds is having "Classic November" where they will upload old pics to their FB page. These really brought back memories.

This was junior camp - a CITer was my assistant that week - and we only had four little campers that week. It was a great week, even in an old-fashioned birdhouse. Campers today have no idea how much nicer their camp experience is.

One summer was a Hatfields/McCoys theme, so for the the staff dinner we had a "pig-pickin" instead of the usual steak meal. I went the night before to help process the pig. The head second from left is mine. Somewhere is a picture of me holding the two kidneys, removed right from the pig, but it has disappeared somewhere in the succeeding years.

Camp kids - always precious. This was during one of my receptionist summers. Both of these toddlers are now grown men with families of their own.

These old Wilds memories are precious. I learned much during that time about character, sacrifice, and doing whatever needed to be done to keep the ministry going. It was a time of great friendships, great opportunities, and lots of immersion in spiritual matters.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

--I'm doing verb tenses with the younger classes right now. We were using the verb "see," and when I said "Okay, what's the plural of "you see"--one boy said "Y'all see." Kinda hard to explain that one to southern boys. . .

--Monday night when Mike came in from work he said "There's a hawk in the yard." It was almost tame - was in no hurry to fly off, and was not afraid of me coming out with the binoculars. It was a red-shouldered hawk, which is labeled in the bird book as being uncommon for our area. I had it marked as a "maybe" on my life list, so it was nice to confirm a sighting of it.

--I also put the feeders up on Monday. The birds have yet to discover them, but it usually takes a few days. There was a chickadee there this afternoon. It may be a little early to put up the feeders, and I may regret the amount of birdseed it will take to keep them filled up for the next eight months or so--but no, in the long run I will not regret it.

--I went to watch the first game of the World Series with my dad last night. I couldn't stay except for about half the game, but it was nice to watch some of it with him. It's exciting this year with Kansas City in it. That team has never been on our radar, but it's always nice to see an underdog, low-budget team do well against all those high powered teams!

Saturday, October 18, 2014

This morning I met with a local ladies' church group that sent a shawl and about 35 hats with me to China last summer. This group meets twice a month to crochet these items as a group, and then give them away to whomever they think would be encouraged by them, to remind these people that they are being remembered in prayer. Right now they are working hard on hats to give away at the Thanksgiving meal they prepare for people of the neighborhood each year. (This is at a 100-year-old small inter-city church in our town.) I teach the daughter of one of the members of the group, which is how they found out about the trip and sent some hats with me.

They wanted to hear how it went, and were glad to see the pictures of the people who received them. Elsie (above) got the shawl, and a hat for herself and for her husband. And the little blind girl got a pretty pink one. The rest of the hats will be distributed through the coffee shop where contacts are made and channeled in Andrew's city.

This is a good outreach by some very nice ladies who desire to be an encouragement and blessing to people wherever and whenever they can. In about a month they will have made shawl #1000, and many more hats. That's quite an accomplishment.

Friday, October 10, 2014

1. As written about on the previous post, I got to go to Illinois this past weekend for my Aunt Catherine's funeral. It's always good to reconnect with family and friends, and I don't get a lot of opportunities to do so. The midwest in October is beautiful. Wish I'd gotten more photos of the harvest. Someone here at school said "Did it look kind of like Denver Downs?" (DD is a nearby large diversified farm in a typical South Carolina valley, surrounded by woods and a pond.) No, son, it looked nothing like that. Imagine thousands and thousands (millions and millions?) of flat acres of Denver Downs, with people running huge combines, working as hard as they can to get the corn crop in. It's a beautiful sight, especially to one who doesn't get to see it every year.

2. My folks and I had good flights to and from Chicago-Midway, and were able to wait with my sister who was waiting for her flight to Dallas.

3. We ate at Penn Station. I finally found out what all the fuss about Penn Station is about, Rhoda!! :-) And yes, it was very good - a sub sandwich place with very good bread and very good options.

4. I made it through this week fine, without the fatigue that sometimes comes after a whirlwind trip like this one.

5. Those who remember my China presentation remember the story of the little blind girl whose mother was expecting her second child when I was there. Well, during the night last night, Andrew sent me a picture on WeChat of the new baby. (Fortunately I was wide awake and therefore it did not wake me up.) Here is the precious little sister of the blind girl. Is that not the cutest picture!!!

According to Andrew, right now the mother is on her "month of recuperation," an official Chinese time when she has no responsibilities in society and also receives no visitors. But he has been talking with her on her phone. I wish there were some way to give her a present, but it's not practical to mail anything to China. Maybe I can send something back with him in January.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

When a funeral is held for a lady who lived a wonderful life, had a joyful spirit that everyone loved and appreciated, was ready to go, and who died quietly and peacefully in her sleep, it is an occasion for joy and remembrance more than great sorrow and sadness.

I was privileged to attend my Aunt Catherine's funeral in Illinois this weekend, and it was that kind of service. She was a great lady. She reared seven children, and followed her husband around the world on his adventures in the agricultural world. (During his tenure in Washington DC, she got to volunteer at the White House during the Reagan and Bush administrations.) She was the epitome of an example of being a support to one's husband.

She smiled all the time.

I was glad to go to honor her and her life, and also to reconnect with family and friends who are much loved.

And, the cornfields are beautiful right now, and I loved seeing the harvest. Everyone needs to see the midwest in October.